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An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
by Stephen Spender
Introduction
In this poem the poet describes the classroom of a school in a slum. He deals with theme of social injustice and class inequality. The poor children in the classroom are pale looking. Their hair is like rootless weeds. They belong to the dirty world of cramped holes. Their future is dark. But amidst them are a few who dream of an escape into an open space. The poet thinks that these poor children must be taken out of their dirty and unhygienic conditions. They must breathe in fresh and open air. Only healthy children can dream high and create history.
Summary In English
The poem presents a pathetic picture of children studying in a school in a slum. The poet is deeply
moved by the plight of the little children. Their faces are pale and look lifeless. Their disorderly
hair looks like rootless weeds. One tall girl sits with her head down. The poet sees a thin boy. His
small eyes appear like that of a rat. His growth is blocked as he has inherited some disease of his
father. But on the last bench there is a sweet and young boy. He does not seem interested in the lesson.
There are childlike dreams in his eyes. He wants to escape from the boring classroom, climb the trees
and play like squirrels. The walls of the classroom are faded cream coloured. On these walls there are
painted names of the donors. The poet also sees a picture of Shakespeare and clear cloudless sky in the
morning. There is the map of the world also. It shows beautiful hills and valleys. It shows the major
cities of the world. But there is no mention of the slums, poor countryside and the miserable children.
For the poor school children, the world is not what is shown in the map. Their world is limited to what
they can see out of the class room window. Their world is not sunny. It is darkened with the fog of
poverty and pain. From their slum only dull and dreary sky can be seen, which is far from the rivers,
seas and learning. It is hard to show these poor children the picture of Shakespeare and the map of the
world. The picture of Shakespeare means nothing to them. The map of the world is also meaningless to
them. This map does not show their narrow and dirty lanes. The world of the rich and the powerful land
has many beautiful things like ships, sunshine and love. The poor children will be tempted in vain to
steal these things. They are undernourished and unprotected against cold. Their bones seem to peep
through their skin. They have to spend their lives in their narrow streets and crowded huts.
The poet says that all the governors, teachers and other responsible citizens have a duty towards these
slum children. If they don’t help these poor children, their world will remain dark and unfulfilled. The
world of the rich and the world of these poor children are two different worlds. They have to be
abridged. Anything that binds and prevents the progress of these children has to be removed. The dark
classrooms of these children and their huts area closing on them like tombs. Only dead persons can live
in these tombs. These poor children should also be able to see the green fields, run on golden sands on
the seashore and read books with keen interest. In the end the poet says that only those people create
history whose growth is healthy and who have the warmth and strength of the sun in them.
Summary In Hindi
स्टीफन स्पेंडर की यह कविता एक झुग्गी में स्कूल की कक्षा का और कक्षा में बच्चों का विशद वर्णन देती है।
बच्चों के चेहरे सुस्त हैं। उनकी उपस्थिति से पता चलता है कि वे अवांछित हैं। बच्चों के चेहरे उदास हैं।
उनके सिर गरीब होने के कारण उदासी में नीचे लटक रहे हैं। उनके माता-पिता से विरासत में मिले रोगग्रस्त शरीर
हैं और वे गरीबी के शिकार हैं।
कमरे के एक छोर पर, एक बच्चा बैठा है जिसके पास उज्ज्वल आँखें हैं जो सपने में लगता है – गिलहरी के साथ बाहर
खेल रहा है। वह मंद, अंधेरे कमरे में दूसरों से अलग है। कक्षा की दीवारें गंदी हैं। लोगों ने विभिन्न चार्ट
और चित्र दान किए हैं जो उन पर लगाए गए हैं। उनमें से एक महान नाटककार शेक्सपियर की तस्वीर है। उसका सिर
गंजा है और उगते सूर्य से मिलता जुलता है।
अगला पोस्टर टिरोलीज़ घाटी का है, जो चर्चों और फूलों से भरा है जो प्रकृति की सुंदर रचनाओं का प्रतीक है।
एक और एक दुनिया का एक नक्शा है। इन बच्चों के लिए दुनिया इन तस्वीरों में नहीं दिखाई गई है, लेकिन यह वह है
जो वे कमरे की खिड़की से बाहर देखते हैं। वे झुग्गियों में फंसे हुए हैं। उनका भविष्य मंद और आशाहीन है।
उनके पास एक अंधेरा भविष्य है क्योंकि जीवन में उनके विकल्प सीमित हैं और निराशाजनक रूप से कवर किए गए हैं।
वे ज्ञान के उज्ज्वल प्रकाश से बहुत दूर हैं।
इन चित्रों को समझना उनकी क्षमताओं से परे है। वे हर किसी से नफरत करते हैं और उनके लिए, शेक्सपियर एक दुष्ट
आदमी है। जैसा कि कोई भी उनसे प्यार नहीं करता, वे सभी को नापसंद करते हैं। प्यार और स्वीकृति की इच्छा
उन्हें चोरी जैसे अपराध करने के लिए मजबूर करती है। बच्चे इतने पतले होते हैं कि उनके कपड़े त्वचा की तरह
होते हैं और उनके कंकाल उनके माध्यम से दिखाई देते हैं। ऐसा पोषण की कमी के कारण होता है। उन्होंने स्टील से
बने चश्मे पहने हैं जो सस्ते, भारी और असुविधाजनक हैं।
अपने सपनों को पूरा करने और बाहर जाने की उनकी संभावनाओं को बड़ी झुग्गियों के निर्माण से और कम कर दिया गया
है। जब तक वे मलिन बस्तियों से बाहर नहीं आएंगे, तब तक वे कभी नहीं जान पाएंगे कि दुनिया कैसी दिखती है।
सरकारी प्रणाली जो इन मलिन बस्तियों को बनाती है, इन लोगों के उनमें रहने का कारण है। शिक्षा प्रणाली ऐसी है
कि यह उन्हें इन मलिन बस्तियों में रहने के लिए मजबूर करती है। उन्हें इन मलिन बस्तियों से परे सपने देखने
का अधिकार नहीं दिया जाता है। उन्हें मलिन बस्तियों तक सीमित कर दिया गया है।
कवि अधिकारियों से इन झुग्गियों से इन बच्चों को बाहर जाने की अनुमति देने का अनुरोध करता है ताकि क्लास रूम
की दीवारों पर बने नक्शे उनके लिए एक वास्तविकता बन जाएं। उन्हें मंद मलिन बस्तियों के बजाय हरे खेतों में
ले जाना चाहिए। समुद्र तटों की धूप, गर्म रेत और चमकदार नीले आकाश उनके मन में ज्ञान के लिए भूख पैदा
करेंगे। फिर वे इसका सब कुछ सोख लेंगे। तब ये बच्चे आर्थिक रूप से सशक्त हो जाएंगे। कविता एक शक्तिशाली
पंक्ति के साथ समाप्त होती है – जो लोग इतिहास बनाते हैं वे सूर्य की तरह चमकते हैं।
Explanation
Stanza 1:
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper seeming boy,
with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.
The poet says that the condition of the children in a slum school is pathetic. Their world is far removed from the open, healthy environment. They are as unwanted as the rootless weeds. Their hair is unkempt and they have pale faces which clearly indicate their deprived and under-nourished condition. These children, as the tall girl, are stressed by the burden of their circumstances. They are exhausted both physically as well as emotionally. The paper-thin boy is skinny. His eyes have a scared look. These unfortunate beings have inherited only disease and bad luck from their parents. One of diseased ones can’t even get up from the desk to recite his lesson. However, there is one child at the back of the class who is younger than the others. His inexperienced eyes are full of hope and he is dreaming about playing games in the open. Apparently, gloom has still not enveloped him.
Stanza 2:
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world.
And yet, for these Children, these windows,
not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Lost in those thoughts, poet sees the trees running. She also observed the children coming out of their houses. The atmosphere in the car and outside the car was in stark contrast with each other. After the security check up poet again sees her mother from the distance of few yards and found her pale and sickly.
Stanza 3:
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?
On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
The pensive poet suddenly turns belligerent(aggressive) and feels that Shakespeare is ‘wicked’. This is because he misleads the children. He shows them a beautiful world of ships, sun and love which is not only unreal for them but it has a corrupting influence on these children and instigates them to steal and try to escape from their cramped holes. Their existence is indeed, very sad. These emaciated children are so thin that it appears that they are ‘wearing’ skins. The spectacles they are wearing have glass which has been broken and mended. Their entire appearance reeks of their deprivation. The poet shows his outrage by suggesting that the maps on their walls should show huge slums instead of beautiful scenic graphics.
Stanza 4:
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
In a conciliatory tone the poet appeals to the governor, inspector and visitor to do something to improve their condition. If there is political will this map showing the beautiful world outside can become their reality too. The poet hopes the authorities would realize their moral responsibilities and free these children from their grave-like entrapments. He wants all the barriers to be pulled down; barriers that keep away true education from them. The children must be given freedom to experience the wholesome bounties of nature-view the green fields and run on ‘gold sand’. Let them read books and let them breathe in fresh air. Let them discover themselves and let them be creative so that their names can also enter the books of history. Let them find their place in the sun.
Exercises
Stanzas for Comprehension
Stanza 1:
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor :
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paperseeming boy,
with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.
Questions
(i) Name the poem.
(A) My Mother At Sixty-Six
(B) Keeping Quiet
(C) An Elementary School
(D) A Thing of Beauty Classroom in a Slum
Ans. (C) An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
(ii) Who is the poet of this poem?
(A) Kamala Das
(B) Stephen Spender
(C) John Keats
(D) Pablo Neruda
Ans. (B) Stephen Spender
(iii) Who does the poet call the boy the paper-seeming boy?
(A) he is very thin
(B) he is very strong
(C) he is very much healthy
(D) all of the above
Ans. (A) he is very thin
(iv) How are the faces of the children in the class ?
(A) lively
(B) robust
(C) pale and lifeless
(D) rosy
Ans. (C) pale and lifeless
(v) How is the boy sitting at the end of the class?
(A) sweet and young
(B) rough and dry
(C) sick and wrinkled
(D) none of the above
Ans. (A) sweet and young
Stanza 2:
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world.
And yet, for these Children, these windows,
not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Questions
(i) How are the classroom’s walls painted?
(A) green
(B) yellow
(C) pink
(D) sour cream
Ans. (D) sour cream
(ii) What is painted on the wall?
(A) the list of donators
(B) picture of Shakespeare
(C) picture of civilized dome
(D) all of the above
Ans. (D) all of the above
(iii) How is the future of these children?
(A) bright
(B) dim
(C) both (A) and (B)
(D) none of the above
Ans. (B) dim
(iv) What does ‘sour cream walls’ refer to:
(A) the walls are painted regularly with cream colour
(B) the walls have not been painted for a long time
(C) the walls were brilliant new
(D) none of the above
Ans. (B) the walls have not been painted for a long time
(v) Who is the poet of these lines ?
(A) Kamala Das
(B) Stephen Spender
(C) John Keats
(D) Pablo Neruda
Ans. (B) Stephen Spender
Stanza 3:
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?
On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Questions
(i) What does prove a good example for the slum children?
(A) the picture of Shakespeare
(B) the map
(C) both (A) and (B)
(D) None of the above
Ans. (D) None of the above
(ii) What does the map not show?
(A) the children’s slums
(B) the narrow lanes
(C) both (A) and (B)
(D) the ships and sun
Ans. (C) both (A) and (B)
(iii) Where do these children live?
(A) big houses
(B) open area houses
(C) small and dingy houses
(D) all of the above
Ans. (C) small and dingy houses
(iv) Who lives in the cramped holes?
(A) the poet
(B) the slum children
(C) the rich people
(D) all of the above
Ans. (B) the slum children
(v) What does the map on the wall of the classroom not show?
(A) hills and lakes
(B) road and buildings
(C) the narrow lanes of the slum
(D) states
Ans. (C) the narrow lanes of the slum
Stanza 4:
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
Questions
(i) Name the poet of this poem.
(A) Kamala Das
(B) Stephen Spender
(C) Pablo Neruda
(D) John Keats
Ans. (B) Stephen Spender
(ii) Towards whom do the all-responsible citizens have a duty?
(A) the leaders
(B) the slum children
(C) the film heroes
(D) the doctors
Ans. (B) the slum children
(iii) Which people create history, according to the poet?
(A) who are rich
(B) who are famous
(C) who are poor
(D) whose growth is healthy
Ans. (D) whose growth is healthy
(iv) Which people are the possessor of history?
(A) whose language is strong
(B) slum children
(C) poor people
(D) all of the above
Ans. (A) whose language is strong
(v) What is the poet’s appeal to the upper-class people?
(A) to help the poor slum children
(B) to possess history
(C) to make themselves strong
(D) all of the above
Ans. (A) to help the poor slum child.
Question and Answers
Ans. The walls are cream-coloured. But they have not been re-painted for a long time. They have become discoloured. So the poet refers to these the fading colour of the walls as ‘sour cream.’
Q:2. The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘world maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Ans. There is a big contrast between the pictures shown on the walls of the classroom and the real world of these slum children. Shakespeare does not mean anything to these poor children. Moreover, their world is confined to dark and narrow lanes of their slum. Their world is in contrast to the big buildings and beautiful valleys.
Q:3. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Ans. The poet wants that the walls surrounding these slum children should be broken. They should be removed from their surroundings and taken to green fields and sea beaches under the open sky. They should be educated. There should be no social injustice in their world.
Q:4. What is the theme of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Ans. In this poem the poet deals with theme of social injustice and class inequality. The poor children in the classroom are pale looking. Their hair is like rootless weeds. They belong to the dirty world of cramped holes. Their future is dark. The poet thinks that these poor children must be taken out of their dirty and unhygienic conditions. They must breathe in fresh and open air.
Q:5. How does the poet describe the pathetic condition of slum children in the beginning of the poem?
Or
How does the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ portray the children?
Ans. The poem presents a pathetic picture of children studying in a school in a slum. The poet is deeply moved by the plight of the little children. Their faces are pale and look lifeless. Their disorderly hair looks like rootless weeds.
Q:6. How is the world of the slum children is different from the world shown on the walls?
Ans. There is a map on the wall. There are pictures, which show beautiful hills and valleys. But the world of the poor school children not what is shown in the map. It is darkened with the fog of poverty and pain. From their slum only dull and dreary sky can be seen, which is far from the rivers, seas and learning. It is hard to show these poor children the picture of Shakespeare and the map of the world. The picture of Shakespeare means nothing to them. The map of the world is also meaningless to them. This map does not show their narrow and dirty lanes
Q:7. What does the poet find on the walls of the classroom?
Ans. The walls of the classroom are faded cream coloured. On these walls there are painted names of the donors. The poet also sees a picture of Shakespeare and clear cloudless sky in the morning. There is the map of the world also. It shows beautiful hills and valleys. It shows the major cities of the world.
Q:8. What do the picture of Shakespeare and the map of the world mean to the slum children?
Ans. It is hard to show these poor children the picture of Shakespeare and the map of the world. The picture of Shakespeare means nothing to them. The map of the world is also meaningless to them. This map does not show their narrow and dirty lanes.
To enjoy Detailed Explanation of these questions refer the video
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Who is the poet of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
(A) Stephen Spender
(B) W.H. Auden
(C) C.D. Lewis
(D) Wilfred Owen
Ans. (A) Stephen Spender
2. What is the theme of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
(A) development of society
(B) pollution
(C) population increase
(D) social injustice and class inequality
Ans. (D) social injustice and class inequality
3. How are the faces of the students in the class look?
(A) lively
(B) robust
(C) pale and lifeless
(D) rosy
Ans. (C) pale and lifeless
4. Why is the growth of the thin boy blocked?
(A) because he is poor
(B) due to a disease
(C) due to pressure of work
(D) by malnutrition
Ans. (B) due to a disease
5. Whose picture does the poet see on the wall?
(A) Shakespeare
(B) Byron
(C) Shelley
(D) Wordsworth
Ans. (A) Shakespeare
6. According to the poet, the world of the children is limited to what place?
(A) to the whole city
(B) to the whole country
(C) to the whole world
(D) to what they see out of the classroom window
Ans. (D) to what they see out of the classroom window
7. What does not the map on the wall of the classroom show?
(A) hills and lakes
(B) roads and buildings
(C) the narrow lanes of the slum
(D) states
Ans. (C) the narrow lanes of the slum
8. Towards whom do the governors, teachers and other responsible citizens have a
duty?
(A) the leaders
(B) the slum children
(C) film heroes
(D) doctors
Ans. (B) the slum children
9. Which two worlds have to be abridged, according to the poet?
(A) the worlds of leaders and people
(B) the worlds of heroes and heroines
(C) the worlds of the rich people and the slum children
(D) the worlds of sadhus and their disciples
Ans. (C) the worlds of the rich people and the slum children
10. Which people create history, according to the poet?
(A) who are rich
(B) who are famous
(C) who are poor
(D) whose growth is healthy
Ans. (D) whose growth is healthy
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